Dietary Supplements

Athlete Advice

Dietary Supplements

Athletes should take extreme care if they decide to take dietary supplements. If you are a competition badminton player, you should get advice from your dietitian, National Federation or national Anti-Doping Organisation on the risks and benefits of of taking dietary supplements.

Supplements include:

Protein shakes

Energy drinks

Herbal remedies

Vitamins

There has been a significant number of positive tests resulting from the misuse of supplements or poorly labelled dietary supplements. There are risks in taking supplements because:

manufacturing of supplements is not highly regulated, compared to the production of medicines;

supplements can be accidentally cross contaminated by other substances made in the same factory;

labeling of supplements do not follow strict rules and it varies from country to country;

not all the ingredients may be listed on the label;

ingredients can have many different names, some come in different forms with different product names;

supplements could contain prohibited substances which are not declared on the label. Some suppliers deliberately put in substances that are not declared on the label to get a better result and sales of their product (for example to build muscle mass quicker for the user).

There is little or no scientific evidence that a healthy and balanced diet needs supplementing. A change in your diet or training programme could give you better results. It is important to seek advice from your doctor or a sports dietitian about whether you really need to take supplements or not.

Strict Liability

Anti-doping tests can take place anywhere and at any time. Athletes are responsible for looking after their body and knowing what they eat, drink or ingest.

An athlete is responsible for every substance they ingest / found in their body.

By taking a supplement, you accept the risk that it could contain a banned substance.

Bad labeling or undeclared substances on the label is not an adequate defense in a doping hearing.